Fishing in Alaska -- how is it now?

[Muffin210]

We're headed up to Alaska for the first time ever (first cruise, too) and have booked an excursion in Prince Rupert to go halibut fishing. It was kind of expensive but it didn't sound like there was too much to do in town and we definitely wanted to spend at least one day fishing on this cruise.

 

Some of the earlier posts this summer seemed to say that the fish weren't really biting well. Has anyone gone fishing in Prince Rupert recently? How's the catch?

 

(Okay, I know Prince Rupert technically isn't Alaska, but I thought this would still be the most appropriate thread!)

[robbinsca]

I am not a fisherman, and can't comment on Prince Rupert specifically. Since no one else is "biting" at your thread I thought I would pass along some comments from my tablemate on the Summit a few weeks ago.

 

He was very pleased with the fishing in early July. The first trip, out of Ketchikan, he got over 200 pounds of fish. In Icy Straits Point he got 9 more fish, with the smallest being over 10 pounds so it probably was another 150 pounds needing to be shipped back. There were a number of other people who did not catch anything at ISP. In Juneau they got a guide who doesn't normally take cruisers out, but didn't have a booking that day so he did.........another great day of fishing due to a good guide!

 

We did talk to one couple while we were on land. They took a side trip to Homer and were guaranteed two halibut by their fishing guide. They went out on open sea, and it was very rough. The guide was trying to get huge fish for them. After everyone got seasick and the waves starting crashing over the deck they moved to calmer waters and every person on the boat got their limit. They really had to suffer with "only" 2 40 pound halibut.